1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a heat shield, and in particular a heat shield made from a layered sheet material including aluminum facings and a perforated steel core which maintains an air-space separation between the aluminum facings.
2. Related Art
Modern internal combustion engines are typically designed to have high working temperatures to provide high thermodynamic and fuel consumption efficiencies. These high working temperatures, however, are a source of great practical difficulty for features in proximity to a heat source. Accordingly, careful heat management is necessary to ensure that the components of an engine which are ill-suited for operation in high temperature environments are properly protected from high heat sources. Proper heat protection will ensure reliable system and component operations over the life of the engine.
Heat shields are used as a technique for managing heat in a vehicular engine. According to the prior art, a heat shield is affixed to the components to be shielded by brackets or clips. These mounting techniques require features added to the heat shield and/or the component to be shielded to hold the heat shield in position. Because the exact configuration of the heat shield can vary from model to model and application to application, it can be difficult and expensive to provide mounting features in some applications. In addition, when mounting features are secured to the heat shield with rivets or other fasteners, stress concentrations can be induced leading to premature cracking or other failure modes.
Accordingly, alternative techniques for mounting heat shields, other than clips, brackets or other added features, would be beneficial.